The Art of Making Decisions Arc 1 · ORIGIN
by LadyMidnightStorm
Summary: The first Arc of my TF fic. It starts out as sort of a background for the rest of Arcs, and takes place right after the first TF movie, continuing through the second, and maybe part of the third. The starting point of it all, the ORIGIN arc is the first link of a long chain. We all saw the TF movies... but did we actually see it all? What was going on behind the main action?
1. Chapter 1 · A Very Special Birthday

**THE ART OF MAKING DECISIONS**

**[ARC 1 · ORIGIN]**

**By Silverlight & Nightstorm**

**Disclaimer: **All recognizable Transformer characters, settings, etc. are property of their respective owners. We just borrow them for our plot (don't worry, we'll return them… eventually). Our OCs as well as the majority of the plot belong to us. No copyright infringement is intended in any way.

**Authoresses' Notes:** This story was created from our full-of-randomness role-playing, so it has a bit of everything, humor, drama, action, dark stuff etc. even mature content, therefore its rating. The story takes place after the 2007 Transformers Movie, and even though we will not follow the plot of RoTF absolutely step by step, we will use some of it as a base, so there will be some spoilers, and the same goes for DotM.

We do appreciate comments and constructive criticism (especially about grammar corrections or so, since none of us is English), but if you're just going to rant about something you don't like, or some character that's OOC or some similar trash, you can keep it to yourselves, thank you. It's our story, not yours, if you don't like it, don't read it.

**Story Notes:** Written in 3rd person (there might be some short parts told from certain characters, though).

Any names (except main official characters and main OCs) were chosen randomly from name websites or invented, so any coincidence is not intended.

* * *

**Main OCs: **

Kyra Lilianne Ayron - Age 27 - Judge/Graphic Design & Programming as hobbies.

Appearance: Medium height, pale skin and slightly strong complexion. Vaguely exotic features and serious appearance in general. Deep black eyes and waist-length curly dark crimson hair.

Dressing Style: Since her hair color already stands out enough, tends to use soft colors combinations, especially likes combining black with either white or various shades of green, mint green being her favorite. Strongly dislikes any neon-ish color.

Other: Always carries a small black shoulder bag with a lot of stuff. Likes to be always prepared.

Aurora Leah Rhodes - Age 26 - Computer Engineer.

Appearance: Medium height and slightly tanned skin. Always cheerful and friendly. Chocolate brown eyes and slightly long, wavy chestnut hair with golden highlights.

Dressing Style: Her main condition regarding to clothing is for it to be comfortable. Likes jeans and shirts as long as they're not too baggy, and loves the color blue, preferably pale or sky blue. She's not very fond of any kind of dresses or skirts, especially short ones, and since she's a bit obsessed with her height, almost always wears at least medium heels.

Other: She always has her laptop with her.

* * *

**Fonts Meaning:**

_"_Speaking_" '__Thinking/Mind Speaking__' _ ::_Transmissions:: _ "**Cybertronian**" _/Bond Speaking/ -Radio/Lyrics-_

* * *

**AND THE STORY BEGINS…**

**[THE ART OF MAKING DECISIONS - ARC 1 · ORIGIN]**

**Chapter 1 - A very special birthday**

"That's been awesome!" Leah said happily, stretching. She was feeling a bit numb after a 6 hour movie marathon "So, were they worth seeing again or not?" she then asked the red-haired girl sitting next to her.

"I'm not saying they're not good, they're well-made and the special effects are pretty nice… but we could have seen some other movies, ones we haven't memorized as well as these, if you know what I mean" Kyra answered, and before her friend could retort, added "But you were right, I enjoyed seeing them again" she smiled "which reminds me…" she said then, and turned to search something inside her bag, while her friend observed her "Aha, got it"

"Got what?" Leah asked curiously.

"Whaddya mean what? Your birthday present, you silly" Kyra joked smiling and giving her a small wrapped box, which Leah took and began to open. It was one of those jewelry boxes, and she looked at Kyra, who just waved a hand, encouraging her to open it, so she did. The moment she opened the box and saw what was inside, she was astonished; inside the box there was a pendant made from a strange metallic-looking mineral held inside a metal spiral that united it with the fine chain. Within a few seconds she threw her arms around her friend.

"Thank you! It's lovely!" she chirped happily.

"Yeah yeah, it's nothing" Kyra laughed "Come on, turn around and I'll help you put it on" she said, and Leah quickly complied. Once she had, Kyra took out another pendant almost identical to the first and put it on herself.

"Wow… seriously, it's beautiful" Leah said looking at the stone, now in her hand "Hey, wait a sec…" she muttered examining it closely "What a weird mineral, it looks like it has engravings in it… Where'd you find it?" she asked.

Kyra just shrugged "I found both of them last week while hunting, they were like stuck in some pine's roots… I though they looked nice, so I took them to my friend the jeweler to make the pendants" she explained "The design was his idea actually, he told me it was the best way to make the pendants without damaging the minerals."

"Cool" Leah said "You and your artisan friends… what a crew" she laughed.

"Yeah, I'm the weird one, since I'm not into crafting… well, unless you consider graphic design as crafting, then yes, and I'd be the only modernized one of the group" Kyra said, and they both laughed.

"Well…" Leah said after a while, looking at her watch "It'll be dark soon, we should be getting ready, we don't want to be late for the party, right?"

"Certainly" Kyra said, also looking at her watch for a second.

When both girls were prepared to leave, they gathered their things and went outside, but once in the doorway to the streets, the building's lights went off and something caught their attention; both their pendants seemed to glow dimly in the poor night light. They took them in the palm of their hands and brought them closer to examine them, when suddenly the glow deepened into a blinding flash that forced the girls to cover their eyes. The flash lasted just a few seconds, and once it was gone, it left nothing behind, neither the pendants or the girls holding them…

At the same time, in a remote road in an arid and mostly deserted area if not for the old light poles, probably out of use, a very particular convoy of vehicles circulated calmly, however it did make a rather strange picture, since no vehicles like those were commonly seen in such areas. Only a few days had passed since the battle at Mission City, and now, Sam and Will Lennox were on the way to the new assigned base for the Autobots along with them.

"-_I have sand even in places I didn't know existed-_" echoed a man's voice through Bumblebee's speakers. Sam just had to laugh at the comment, but had to admit that he also had a point; the road, though paved, was so abandoned that it was almost completely covered by sand.

"Don't worry Bee, I'm sure once we get to the base you all will be able to get a nice wash" Sam told him with a smile.

"How much longer 'til we get there, bah th' way?" Ironhide asked Will, who supposedly knew the place.

"Shouldn't be too long… just a few more hours or so" Will answered. Ironhide sort of grunted, but said nothing more.

"I'm kind of curious" Ratchet spoke "They said the place would be suitable for us, but they didn't specify much."

"I heard it's an old military base that's now out of use, but they are going to reform and adapt it so it can serve as our base of operations. And one thing's for sure; the place is huge" Will told him.

"Ah'll tell ya whether it's good 'r not once we get there…" Ironhide commented, not so confident about the suitability of the place. Will had to smile at the tone of his guardian.

They drove in silence for about an hour, a time Sam used to reflect on his situation. Truth to be told, he knew very little about the Autobots, except for Bee… he wondered if Will had gotten to know them better, being their contact with the Government and such.

"Sam, you are very quiet…" Sam almost jumped upon hearing Optimus' deep voice through the speakers "How are your wounds?" he asked.

"Uh… better, I guess" the boy answered, sounding kind of nervous. He didn't know why, but since the constant life-threatening situations were over, he was having confidence problems when communicating with the mechs… it felt strange to speak to them like he usually did "Just a few scratches and tiny scars now… sir" he answered, trying to sound respectful, and for a second he could have sworn Optimus was laughing softly.

"There is no need for you to be so formal, Sam" he said, sounding slightly amused "You can just call me Optimus, as you always did."

"Sure… Optimus" Sam answered, still a bit tense. He doubted for a moment whether or not to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while now, but finally decided to speak "Um… Optimus? What happened to… Jazz?"

There was a brief silence, and Sam was starting to regret asking such a question "We managed to retrieve his shell before the humans tried to claim it along the Decepticon ones" Optimus replied, his tone now sad "It's inside the trailer" he added, also quenching Sam's curiosity as to why did Optimus have that trailer.

Sam didn't know what else to say… he had been told about how Jazz had been killed by Megatron, and thinking about it still gave him chills, but even though it made him sad, he couldn't think of anything reassuring to say to the rest of the Autobots…

Suddenly a beam of white light flew across the sky at full speed, landing right in front of them with a blinding blast, causing everyone to put to test the effectiveness of their braking systems; Bumblebee stopped almost immediately, skidding a little, Ratchet managed to evade the collision by swerving and stopping beside him, Ironhide slammed on his brakes, screeching to a halt a few inches from Bee's bumper, and Optimus had to swerve out of the road to avoid hitting Ironhide, but almost overturned due to the added weight of the trailer, from inside of which came a resounding _clang_.

Immediately, Sam and Will got out and ran to the front to find out what happened. They had to look twice, not believing what their eyes showed them; right there, in the middle of the previously empty road, and right where the beam had landed, there were two unconscious women. Will approached them, while Sam stood back a little. They were two young women, a brown-haired one, lying face down, and a red-haired one, lying face up and, apparently, starting to awaken. Will kneeled beside her to see if she was injured, when the girl opened her eyes slowly.

The first thing Kyra saw when she opened her eyes was the blurry, shadowy figure of a man hovering over her. She abruptly opened his eyes in fright, and with an almost karate-like scream, launched her fist at the man's face, who fell on his ass to the floor as she crawled back away from him while blinking several times, trying to clear her vision.

"Kyra!" She heard Leah's voice nearby, and turned her head to see her friend half sitting beside her, looking scared "What the hell are you doing? You just punched a soldier!" she said almost screaming.

That was when Kyra noticed the man's uniform, who now had his hands over his nose, because apparently it was bleeding, and immediately tried to apologize "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to" she was saying "It was a reflex reaction, I swear… you kind of scared me"

"It's okay, I understand, don't worry" Will said trying to soothe her "Ouch… nice punch by the way… I think you broke my nose…" he added with some humor, then with a quick and painful gesture snapped it back in place. After that he looked at his blood-covered hand, only to wince slightly at the mess "Here's where a tissue would come in handy…" he said.

"Oh, I have one" Leah said rummaging through her pockets until she found it "Here you… go" she said when he handed it, but froze upon seeing his face, having recognized the man in front of her.

"Thanks" he said as he took the tissue and used it to wipe the blood off his face.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Leah shrieked suddenly, pointing at him "you… you… you're…" she stuttered, earning a confused look from everyone present, including her friend.

"Uh… it's not that bad, it's just a little blood…" Will said, trying to calm her down.

"You're Major Lennox!" Leah finally shouted, regaining her ability to speak properly.

"What? I'm not Major, I'm just Captain…" Will corrected unconsciously, but then he realized something "but wait a second, how do you know my name?" he asked, looking confused.

Leah totally ignored his question "Then those back there…" she turned to look at the convoy "Aaaaaaaaaaaah! No way!" she screamed again, then brought her hands to her head and began muttering at an incredible speed "ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh…"

"Leah? Mind telling me what's going on?" Kyra finally asked her friend, sounding completely puzzled.

"What'd you mean what's going on? Don't you recognize them?" the brunette half-shouted in exasperation, pointing at the group of vehicles in front of them.

Kyra considered her words for a moment, trying to understand what she meant, then suddenly froze, her eyes wide. She didn't shout, but only stood there looking at them wordlessly. She closed her eyes and shook her head, then opened them again 'Okay… they're still there…' she said to herself, 'Do not freak… do not freak…' she repeated.

"Uh… Kyra? You're saying that out loud" Leah informed her friend, suppressing a chuckle.

"Oh, sorry" the other answered, still facing forward.

"Is something wrong?" Will asked looking carefully at them, a glint of suspicion in his eyes while he finished wiping the blood off his face with the tissue.

"You've got a gift for acting dumb" Leah told him with a hint of sarcasm "Isn't is obvious that we recognized them?"

"You mean you know who they are?" Sam asked in astonishment.

"Thanks, Sam, you just confirmed it" Leah said with a smile "Kyra, you can stop hallucinating, it's really them" she then told her friend, nudging her arm slightly to bring her out of the stupor effectively, for Kyra seemed to return to normal after shaking her head.

"What do you mean by 'it's really them'?" Will asked cautiously, for the situation was becoming increasingly strange, every word the girls said making clearer that they were not normal, and seemed to know things they definitely shouldn't.

"It's not possible, there's no way for you to know that" Sam told them after recovering from the impression, having been called by his name when he hadn't even said it.

"Believe it or not, we know who they are" Leah insisted "I can even name them one by one."

"Prove it" Sam said, thinking it was just a bluff, while Will sighed, almost not believing how naïve the boy was.

"Look, the red and blue truck with flames is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots" Leah began, pointing as she spoke "the black pick-up in front of him is Ironhide, weapons specialist; the H2 Hummer Rescue is Ratchet, the chief medical officer, and the yellow Camaro is Bumblebee the scout, and your guardian, if I remember correctly" she recited, looking smugly at Sam's astonished expression as if saying 'Take that!' "Oh, and I forgot the silver Pontiac Solstice, first lieutenant Jazz, who's… well, sadly missing…" she said, not being able to said the word 'dead' out loud.

Will got up quickly, now in full alert mode, and violently grabbed Leah's arm "How do you know all this?" He barked at her "You're with the Decepticons, aren't you? Ow!"

He was forced to let go of the girl when the redhead did some kind of disarming move on him as well as delivering a hard blow to his arm. He turned to look at her, only to receive a full-force glare from her "Watch your actions, Lennox" she warned in a dark tone that almost made him shudder "Dare to do something like that again, and I'll break more than just your nose, and without any remorse."

"I'm starting to think you really are dumb" Leah told him, rubbing her arm "Of course, we're with the 'Cons because they just _love_ us fleshlings and are _thrilled_ to have some of them around" she added with exaggerated sarcasm "Smartass…"

"She does have a point there…" Sam admitted, earning a just-who's-side-are-you-on? look from Will.

"I think it'll be best if you come with us to the base, we'll be able to interrogate you better there" Will then said in a commanding tone, making a gesture for the girls to follow him.

"Are those manners to ask for anything? Don't you know the magic word?" Kyra retorted with a small smirk, crossing her arms and not moving from her spot. Will turned to face her, looking totally lost "You do know the word, don't you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

At that exact moment they heard a radio clip of a child's voice "_-Please, please, pretty please?-_"

"Aww… charming" Kyra said, her voice now suddenly soft, looking at the Camaro with a tender smile, and then turned back at Will, looking serious again "See? Bumblebee is way more polite than you. And smarter" she reprimanded.

Will sighed, frustrated "Could you come with us to the base, _please_?" he said, empathizing the last word.

"That's better" Kyra said, sounding satisfied.

"Okay, we'll come" Leah replied "but I'm riding with Bumblebee!" she added, and almost hopped happily up to him, followed by Sam, who still looked dumbfounded.

"You're coming with me" Will then said to Kyra, implying an obvious 'to keep an eye on you'. The girl just shrugged and headed towards Ironhide.

Will went to help the girl up, since Ironhide was not exactly small in his alt form, but Kyra completely ignored him and easily climbed into the passenger seat without any effort, with an almost graceful jump, and sat elegantly. She looked extremely calm, but the look in her eyes denoted that she was still alert. Will half-glared at the girl as he climbed into the driver's seat. Once back on their way, the redhead took the opportunity to inspect carefully and secretly the interior of the vehicle, since it wasn't shown in the movie and she was curious. Suddenly she caught wind of a strange background murmur, and immediately found its source; the radio. It was very low, so she focused on it and listened, trying to make out the words, a small frown forming on her face.

"Hey!" she suddenly bellowed indignantly, scaring Will, who jumped in his seat, and possibly Ironhide as well "If you have something to say to me, at least have the decency to say it to my face!" she shouted at the radio.

Will looked at her in confusion "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I'm not talking to you, Lennox, but to you!" she spat at him, directing the last three words at the radio, poking it with her index finger repeatedly "I'm not deaf, damnit! You're talking about me as if I wasn't here, and talking bad about me right under my nose!" she continued angrily.

Just then they heard Ironhide's voice coming from the radio "But-"

"Don't you dare to deny it! I heard you perfectly!" Kyra interrupted him, threatening to poke the radio again with her finger. At that Will spoke again, asking what the hell was all that about, causing the girl to direct her anger towards him instead, and to stop paying attention to Ironhide and the murmur of the radio.

_**'What th' slag's wrong with that human?'**_ Ironhide thought angrily, his annoyed muttering interrupted. He hadn't expected her to be able to hear him muttering. _**''n' Ah didn't even speak 'n her language!'**_

_**::Did I hear what I think I heard, Ironhide?:: **_He heard the voice of Optimus in a low whisper.

_**::'Fraid so Prahm… looks like th' human understands Cybertronian::**_ Ironhide concluded.

Meanwhile, oblivious to the situation of the others, Leah was happily curling up and gently rubbing her back against the seat like a cat "So soft…" she almost purred, smiling happily, causing a slight tremor and the radio to make a strange rumbling sound that sounded like a mechanical laugh. Leah paused for a moment before smiling mischievously "So this tickles you, eh?" she said, and began rubbing against the seat like a cat again, causing the radio to go crazy and Bee to rock slightly from side to side, trying to make her stop, while Leah laughed merrily, spreading the laugh to Sam, who could not help but laugh as well.

* * *

So, that's it for the first chapter! It starts out pretty slow, but it'll pick up the pace soon, I promise! xD

Also... any guesses as to what that little 'mineral' Kyra found could be? It's going to be a vital key in the future! =P

On a side note, I realize how I'm making Ironhide talk here, and there's a reason for it, revealed in a few chapters from here. I hope you can understand him enough! xD


	2. Chapter 2 · Problems and Disclosures

**THE ART OF MAKING DECISIONS**

**[ARC 1 · ORIGIN]**

**By Silverlight & Nightstorm**

**Disclaimer: **All recognizable Transformer characters, settings, etc. are property of their respective owners. We just borrow them for our plot (don't worry, we'll return them… eventually). Our OCs as well as the majority of the plot belong to us. No copyright infringement is intended in any way.

**Authoresses****'**** Notes:** This story was created from our full-of-randomness role-playing, so it has a bit of everything, humor, drama, action, dark stuff etc. even mature content, therefore its rating. The story takes place after the 2007 Transformers Movie, and even though we will not follow the plot of RoTF absolutely step by step, we will use some of it as a base, so there will be some spoilers, and the same goes for DotM.

We do appreciate comments and constructive criticism (especially about grammar corrections or so, since none of us is English), but if you're just going to rant about something you don't like, or some character that's OOC or some similar trash, you can keep it to yourselves, thank you. It's our story, not yours, if you don't like it, don't read it.

**Story Notes:** Written in 3rd person (there might be some short parts told from certain characters, though).

Any names (except main official characters and main OCs) were chosen randomly from name websites or invented, so any coincidence is not intended.

* * *

**Fonts Meaning:**

"Speaking" '_Thinking/Mind Speaking__'_ ::_Transmissions:: _ "**Cybertronian**" _/Bond Speaking/ -Radio/Lyrics-_

* * *

**[THE ART OF MAKING DECISIONS - ARC 1 · ORIGIN]**

**Chapter 2 - Problems and disclosures**

A few hours later, the convoy came up to a checkpoint, after which they entered some sort of tunnel that seemed to go on for quite some miles. Kyra had the strange feeling they were underwater, which immediately made sense; they were heading to the base at Diego Garcia, which according to what she knew, was an island. Once out of the tunnel, they reached a huge structure half-hidden by the rocks and surrounded by an airport-looking area. Once there, they entered a building that resembled an enormous hangar, and stopped. The very instant the girls got off the vehicles, they were quickly surrounded by about 8 men in military uniform, three of them standing farther away, aiming their weapons at them, while the nearest ones seemed ready to apprehend them.

Kyra immediately fell into a defensive stance in front of Leah and looked angrily at Will "What's the meaning of this, Lennox?" she asked in a dangerous tone. The aforementioned did not answer, one of the other soldiers, who both girls identified as Sergeant Robert Epps, speaking instead.

"You have to come with us" he said, and the girls took a step back defensively "If you resist we'll have to use force."

"Come any closer and I'll give you a reason to use it" Kyra warned in turn, her frown deepening as she looked at them. She then heard someone snort, and turned her gaze to see a very young looking soldier, who didn't even bother to hide his amusement, walking towards her.

"Now, now, just be a good little girl and come with us" he said to Kyra, reaching to grab her arm. Bad idea.

"Good little girl my ass, you insolent brat!" she yelled, punching him hard in the face, knocking him down. That action triggered the chaos; no one waited any longer for any signal and launched themselves to restrain the girls. Kyra began throwing punches to anyone who approached her, yelling martial arts style. Leah, on the other hand, tried to stay out of the fight at first, meaning she tried to remain behind her friend, but then saw a metal bar on a pile of discarded objects, and made a run for it. Once she grabbed it, she used it as some kind of bat, dealing blows randomly, which worked in a sense, for no one dared to get near her.

"Damn it all, Lennox!" Epps shouted, getting up after receiving a few hits from the redhead "You said 'two unarmed civilian women'!"

"You think I expected this?" The aforementioned shouted back.

Epps didn't answer, but brought a hand up to his face, and held back a hiss of pain "Shit, those ain't nails, that girl actually has claws!" he said, looking at the blood on his fingers and then at the redhead.

The few men holding weapons were at a loss, none daring to shoot without orders, and even less against two unarmed women, technically speaking. Those moments of doubt were all Kyra needed to get close enough to one of them and knock him out with a kick to the head, and grab his gun, but to the surprise of those who watched, she didn't use it, but unloaded it with surprising ease and used as a bat to disarm the others as well, immediately unloading the other weapons as she went.

While she was unloading the third and last one, a soldier jumped on her from the back and both fell to the ground, just as another one went to help him restrain her, trying to avoid the girl's kicks as she struggled furiously.

"Take your hands off my friend, you idiot!" Leah shouted, hitting the man in the head with one of the unloaded weapons as hard as she could, knocking him unconscious, allowing Kyra to take care of the other one.

"Thanks" Kyra said standing up, and kept fighting the few who were left, when a startled cry made her turn.

"Let go! Let go I say!" Leah was shouting as one of the men had taken a hold of her improvised weapon to avoid being hit and now also had a hold on the girl's arm.

Kyra didn't think it twice and launched herself at the man, tackling him to the ground and freeing her friend. He quickly got up and held onto Kyra's wrists, preventing her from fighting back. She couldn't punch him, and couldn't kick him either because he was too close to her, and her mind raced trying to find a way out of the mess, for the bulkier man was gaining on her rapidly. She then did something unexpected; she threw back her head and head-butted him, as hard as she could, causing the man to scream in pain and fall unconscious to the ground, releasing her.

"Ow…" Kyra complained, bringing her hand to her now hurting forehead as she tried not to stumble.

Both girls got together, back to back, still on guard, just in case "Looks like that's it for now…" Leah said, trying to catch her breath. Kyra nodded in agreement, not realizing her friend could not see her gesture. Both of them looked around in case someone got up, but what they heard instead was a set of very familiar metallic sounds… both slowly turned their heads and froze… for now, before them, stood the Autobots in their bipedal form.

"Shit… I forgot about them…" Kyra said, looking up.

"Same here…" Leah admitted. The instant they attempted to move closer, though, neither of the two girls wanted to take any risks "RUN!" the brunette yelled, and both tore off in opposite directions.

Bumblebee ran after Leah who, instead of trying to run away, started running in circles around him, slipping between his legs and causing him to lose his balance and nearly fall when he tried to catch her. Meanwhile, Kyra ran in a zigzag, avoiding Ironhide's hands, who had gone after her and was unsuccessfully trying to catch her. "Slag 't all, stop doin' that!" he growled frustrated as the girl evaded him once again, his hand closing in midair for the umpteenth time.

"Like hell I will!" the redhead shouted back at him without even turning _'__If he thinks I__'__m dumb enough to run in a straight line ahead of someone who could catch up in a few steps, he__'__s got another thing coming! I won__'__t be an easy target!__'_ she thought as she leapt aside, once again avoiding his hand.

Ratchet watched the scene, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it all; two Autobots having trouble trying to catch two small humans? It was definitely an uncommon and amusing sight… After a few minutes, he was even starting to consider if he should go and help them.

"ENOUGH!" The commanding voice of Optimus resounded in the hangar, almost shaking the place, and caused both Autobots and humans alike to freeze in place and look at him "Can't you see you are scaring them?" he said, and then turned his attention to the girls "Please calm down, we do not intend to harm you."

Both females visibly relaxed their stances almost immediately, while trying to catch their breath from the chase, a chance Bumblebee and Ironhide used to pick them up, with surprisingly no resistance at all.

Leah was half seated on one of Bumblebee's arms, making it easier for him to carry her "Aww… I was having fun" she protested, smiling "Hey Bee, we've got to do this again sometime" she told the mech, who made a strange hiccup-like sound that could be interpreted as a giggle.

"Isn't there a little more comfortable way of carrying me beside this King-Kong style?" Kyra complained slipping out of Ironhide's grasp and trying to accommodate herself. Said mech growled a little at the comparison, but allowed her to just sit on the palm of his hand instead.

Both brought them before Optimus, who was slightly surprised by the looks of curiosity and fascination in the girls' eyes "You are not scared" It wasn't a question, but they shook their heads in response anyway "But just a moment ago you were fleeing from us… Why?" he asked in mild confusion.

Kyra shrugged "Just in case" she said simply.

"Just in case?" Ironhide repeated.

The redhead turned slightly to face him "Of course, you were trying to catch us and we had no idea of your intentions, is that so strange?"

"But ya calmed down quickly when Optimus sed we'd do no harm t' ya" Ironhide said, still looking lost.

"What's so weird about that?" Leah asked.

"Wait, I think I see where you're trying to get at…" Kyra said, looking thoughtful for a moment "You think it's strange that we have so blindly trusted his word, isn't that it?" Their surprised expressions confirmed her words, so she didn't wait for any other confirmation and directly answered "We have no reason not to trust you… and especially him" she gestured to Optimus "You're the good guys, after all" she finished, and Leah nodded in agreement.

All mechs present were silent for a moment, sheer amazement mixed with confusion evident in their expressions. The two young human females were incredibly calm and apparently trusted them blindly… but there seemed to be more to them than that… they knew so many things they shouldn't… and the previous incident in which the redhead had shown the unexpected ability to understand Cybertronian only added to it.

"If you have any questions, go ahead and ask" Kyra suddenly said, foreseeing what would unavoidably come.

"Before that" Ratchet said "I think we should awaken the rest of the humans and make sure they're alright."

"It's fine by me, as long as they don't go at it again" Leah said "I'm not in the mood for another fight."

"Speakin' of which…" Ironhide said to the redhead, who looked up at him curiously "Why didn't ya use th' weapons? Ya seem'd ta know very well how ta use 'em, ya even unloaded 'em easily."

"I thought that was obvious" she answered "As I said before, you're the good guys, and so are they, even if they behaved like stupid, rude bastards… And we didn't want to harm them… well, not more than what was necessary to defend ourselves" she corrected herself when she received and incredulous look from all mechs.

"They should learn from you" Leah added "Doing things the nice way usually gets better results, especially when involving us… We're living examples of the action-reaction philosophy."

"I completely agree… nice way to put it, by the way" Kyra complimented with a small smile.

"And what does that mean?" Ratchet asked, intrigued.

"Simple" Leah said "Every action causes an equivalent reaction, and we simply apply that rule to behavior." They still looked confused, so she tried to explain better "We have a very recent example… hostile action" she pointed to the unconscious soldiers over her shoulder "hostile reaction" she said pointing to herself now "nice action" she continued, now gesturing to the mechs "nice reaction" she pointed to herself again "See what I mean?"

Ratchet nodded "Interesting…"

"Although there are exceptions" Leah added "For example, even if a Decepticon were to act nice towards us, which I must say is extremely unlikely, we wouldn't react nearly as well as we have with you… we're not that stupid."

Bumblebee made that laugh-rumble sound again and Ratchet seemed slightly amused, but the expressions of the other two mechs were serious… yet again, they were showing knowledge they shouldn't have.

"Sam?" Optimus suddenly said, and both Sam and the girls nearly jumped; Sam at the mention of his name, and the girls suddenly remembering the boy was still there.

"Yes?" the boy answered.

"Please inform Captain Lennox and the rest of what happened once they wake up" he said, and the boy nodded "We need to have a talk and ask some questions to these young ladies, if they are willing" he then said, looking at them.

"No problem, as we said just now, you can ask anything you want" Leah said.

"We'll try to answer as best as we can" Kyra added.

Optimus nodded slightly, and gestured to the rest to follow him. He was utterly confused by the girls' behavior… true, all the knowledge they seemed to have was suspicious… but they seemed so sincere, and their friendship had been obvious in the previous fight… they were calm and confident in their presence, and the blind trust they had placed upon them, along with such predisposition to be questioned… it certainly was uncommon, but those were points in their favor, they proved they were not evil, and deserved to be trusted, at least for now. They arrived at a room almost as big as the hangar, and the girls were placed on a structure high enough to allow them to speak more comfortably, while the mechs stood around them.

There was a slight awkward silence that Leah decided to break "Well, I think the first thing to do is to introduce ourselves… We already know you, of course, so I believe that leaves us…" she said "My name is Leah Rhodes, and my companion here is Kyra Ayron, a pleasure to meet you, formally speaking of course" she finished with a smile.

"By saying you already know us… you mean you had already seen us before? Perhaps you were in the Mission City incident?" Ratchet asked.

"Yes and no" Leah answered "Let's see… this will be complicated to explain…" she muttered thoughtfully "We were not there, but we saw it… and we know a lot more than just your names… but how could I explain it without making it too confusing…?" she was saying, and crossed her arms, thinking.

Kyra was also thoughtful, until her expression suddenly lit up "I know!" she exclaimed, attracting everyone's attention, including Leah's "I'll start at the beginning, okay? Please be patient" they all nodded "You know about the theory that speaks of multiple dimensions?" another nod "Well, that's the base of the explanation, for even we are not too sure of what happened… However, I do have a theory; given the nature of our… call it 'arrival', and the impressively striking differences between the place where we come from and this one, the only explanation I can think of is that somehow Leah and I have traveled from one dimension to another."

"But what does that have ta do with th' fact of knowin' us?" Ironhide asked, not understanding.

"I will get to that point, I asked you to be patient" Kyra said, frowning a little for the interruption "As you can imagine, there are differences between every dimension about what is real and what is not, on what exists and what doesn't, and even about what is reality and what is fiction" she continued "In this dimension, I'm almost 100% sure you would find no trace of anything related to us worldwide, since we theoretically do not exist here… and on the other hand, in our dimension… well… here comes the most essential but also most difficult part for you to believe…"

"Just keep goin'" Ironhide said impatiently, tired of all the verbiage that did not answer their questions.

Kyra sighed before speaking again "In our dimension, you are not real" she said, and immediately raised a hand gesturing for silence, seeing they were about to interrupt her "I didn't say you didn't exist, only that you weren't real" she clarified "Back at our dimension you are just fictional characters, you appear in comic books, cartoon series and even movies, which is why we know who you are, along with other things."

"Tha' makes no sense" Ironhide said.

"I did say that it would be more difficult for you to believe" Kyra told him "How else would you explain all we know?"

"And what exactly d' ya know 'bout us? Ya mentioned ya knew more then jus' our names…" Ironhide asked, folding his arms, distrust evident in his voice.

"The expert in that area is Leah, she knows more than I do about all this" Kyra said, looking at her friend, implying it was her turn to speak.

Leah mused for a few moments, trying to decide what to explain first "Well, I know quite a lot… but as they say… 'if you have to start somewhere, better start at the beginning', so I'll tell you what I know about the origin of your race. I'm warning you now that many things I say might not be true, and that I mean no offense of any kind, I'm just speaking what most people back at our dimension believe to be true, so they're just theories, okay?" The rest just looked at her expectantly, so he closed her eyes for a moment and began to recite "The origin of your race and all life on the planet Cybertron is the Allspark. There are many theories about its origin; some believe that the Allspark was created by Primus or some other unknown alien race, while others claim that the Allspark is a being, a living organism itself coming from a remote place in the universe, and some even believe that there are more than one, which would mean that they're a race whose individuals are scattered throughout the universe" she said, and stopped to check if everyone was following.

All Autobots present were silent for a few seconds, until Ironhide shook off his stupor "WHAT? Whaddya mean there's more then one Allspark?" he half-shouted, his deep voice echoing in the room, causing a startled jump from the girls.

"Hey, it's just a theory!" Leah shouted back defensively "It's what the people of our world thought!"

"But it's a very implausible theory" Ratchet spoke thoughtfully "If it were true, our scientists would have discovered it… just as you humans, our species always wanted to know more about our origin, about what gave us life and how it did it" he said seriously.

"Then, like humans, there must be things that remain unexplained" Leah argued in response "I can't believe that your scientists have been able to determine the scope and limits of the Allspark's power. There will always be phenomena that cannot be explained and remain mysteries" she said confidently.

It looked like Ratchet was going to reply, but Optimus stopped him "Ratchet, now is not the time for scientific debates" he said, and then looked at Leah "Please continue."

"Well, chronologically now would follow…" Leah said, but stopped and looked at Optimus, somewhat hesitant.

"Is something wrong?" Optimus asked, mildly surprised by the girl's reaction.

"Well… I don't know if it's appropriate to tell the story in front of everyone…" she said "I think it's kind of personal for you, Optimus… I don't know if I should…" Those words, along with the attitude of the young woman left the aforementioned Mech a little confused, so he did not know what to say "I think it'll be best if I just tell the general facts" she decided "Now follows the story of the Primes."

All expressions now showed even more confusion and surprise, if that was possible… many of them asking themselves the same question… How far did this little human females' knowledge about them go?

Leah cleared her throat before continuing her explanation "The Original Primes were the leaders of their race, and stood apart from the rest of Cybertronians, in addition to their incredible power, exceptional skills and great knowledge, for their distinct appearance and the fact that they didn't transform" she began "Besides their tasks as leaders and protectors of their race, their other main duty was to find and collect energon, which is why they searched the universe for energon sources, those mainly being powerful suns from which they could extract the energon. When they found one of these suns, they built in one of the system's planets a machine capable of absorbing the sun's energy and transform it into energon, destroying the sun in the process. Because of this last consequence, the Primes had a basic rule; never to destroy a sun if there was a planet with any kind of life, whatever its form, depending on it."

"Oh, I remember that" Kyra said then, drawing the attention to herself "then at some point one of the Primes disobeyed that rule and, unbeknownst to his brothers built one of these machines on a planet inhabited by sentient life forms. When the rest found out they went and tried to stop him, having no choice but to fight him. After an incredible struggle not only against their brother, but also against the large army he had created, they managed to take from him an object of great power, which was the only thing capable of activating the machine" Leah nodded, confirming Kyra's words "but after that titanic struggle, they had no strength left, and couldn't but seal that powerful key so their brother could never find it and activate the machine."

"Exactly" Leah said, sharing a knowing smile with Kyra.

"Ah see nothin' personal in that story" Ironhide said with a frown.

"Didn't I say I was omitting the personal part, and telling only the general facts? Don't be so nosy" Leah told him with a frown of her own.

"Okay, calm down" Ratchet told Ironhide putting a hand on the other Mech's shoulder to prevent further discussion.

"Well, what follows now is the beginning of the war and its development" Leah continued "But where to start? It is so complex… such an immense amount of information…" she muttered, looking thoughtful again.

"I… think I can help here" Kyra spoke suddenly, which drew the attention to her again, as well as an incredulous look from Leah, who had assumed Kyra had only seen the movies and little else.

"But…" Leah was about to voice her question when Kyra raised a hand to stop her from doing so.

"I might not know as many details as you do, but I think it'll suffice" the redhead said, and then turned to look at the rest before beginning to explain "For two generations, Optimus Prime and High Lord Protector Megatron ruled Cybertron together. Their personalities created a balance, Prime was fair and Megatron was firm. However, for some unknown reason, over which many theorize in our world, Megatron revealed his intention to claim the Allspark for himself and use it for evil purposes, and began a war with his own army, the Decepticons. In response, Prime formed another army, the Autobots, though at first they weren't much more than a militia of civilians that supported him" she paused, taking a breath, and then continued as she avoided looking at anyone "During the war that followed, Cybertron was decimated and devastated. The Autobots fought valiantly, but the Decepticons were gaining ground as time passed."

"You sound like a historian" Leah said jokingly.

Kyra made a face at her, muttering a 'very funny' under her breath, before clearing her throat again and continuing "So, there came a time when Optimus decided to launch the Allspark into space to prevent it from falling into the hands of Megatron. Under the orders of Prime, Bumblebee and a group of Autobots acted as bait to lure the Decepticons into believing they had the Allspark, to Tyger Pax, far enough away from the true location of the object to gain some time for Prime to prepare the launch. However, Megatron appeared in person and tried to force Bumblebee to reveal the real location of the Allspark, but all in vain as the Allspark was successfully launched into space. Frustrated, Megatron crushed Bumblebee's vocal processor and took off in an attempt to retrieve the Allspark" she said, feeling a bit bad for Bee, but pulled herself together before resuming the explanation "Something that should be noted is that the launch of the Allspark meant condemning Cybertron to a slow death, and also, as Prime saw in a prophetic vision of the battle of Mission City, that it meant expanding the war to other planets, but it was too late to stop the launch…"

"And I thought you barely knew any of this…" Leah said.

"Would you mind stop interrupting me?" Kyra said slightly annoyed "I lose track of the explanation."

"Sooorry" Leah said a little sarcastically.

"Where was I? Oh yes, the launch…" Kyra said "When the Allspark was launched into space, Jazz, Ratchet and Ironhide tried to stop Megatron from going after it, using a tractor beam that brought him back to one of Cybertron's moons. However, they were not at his level, and Megatron realized they only wanted to delay him, so he called in Brawl to deal with them while he pursued the Allspark. Then Brawl was foolish enough to set off a foldspace warhead at pointblank range, a weapon that warped everyone to different parts of the galaxy. However, the Allspark was not launched blindly into space, its course was leading it to the Alkaris anomaly, a vortex that could potentially transport the Allspark to an infinite number of places in the universe. Thanks to the delay caused by the tractor beam, Megatron could not stop the Allspark from entering the anomaly, so he decided to follow it, entering the anomaly himself. While the Allspark ended in the vicinity of the Sol System, to eventually end up falling on Earth, Megatron ended in a pretty remote place and without the slightest idea of the position of the Allspark. Then, the objective of the war between Autobots and Decepticons changed, and it now wasn't to prevent Megatron from taking the Allspark, but to find it, wherever in the Universe it ended, before Megatron did."

"Wow, what did you do? Memorize a Wikipedia article?" Leah asked.

"Something like that, yes" Kyra replied.

"What? Really? I was joking…" Leah said, surprised "Then you know where everyone ended up and what happened to them?" she asked, suddenly excited.

"Of course" Kyra said "Don't you as well?" Her friend shook her head, earning a confused frown from the redhead.

"Wait, weren't you supposed to be the 'expert'?" Ratchet asked Leah.

"Honestly, I thought I was… I didn't know she knew that much…"

"As I always told you," Kyra said "knowing more languages gives you access to more and greater sources of information."

"Guess so…" Leah admitted "but now tell me what happened, now I'm curious."

"Okay…" Kyra said, and prepared to recite again "Ratchet ended up in the midst of a genocidal war on an alien planet, a war that was uncomfortably similar to the one on Cybertron. At first, he tried to defend himself non-lethally, but that only increased the violence, so to avoid getting involved further, he scans a local vehicle, adapts his alternate mode and transforms in order to blend in. He establishes a signal beacon in hopes of signaling Jazz and Ironhide. Afterwards, unable to stand by and let the Aovan be massacred, Ratchet attacks and defeats the Thrall faction's leader, who he viewed as the same "type" as Megatron, and this causes Ratchet to technically become ruler of the Thrall. He then ordered a ceasefire and eventually an alliance between the two factions was established, effectively achieving peace."

Ratchet's expression was one of total disbelief, for not only the girl had narrated in detail what happened, but also knew the reasons behind his actions… how could they know that? The facts they could have learned from another source, but to know their thoughts, their very feelings… to that extent? Was it possible for them to really come from another dimension? One where they were fictional characters? He was beginning to accept that possibility… for it was the only one that made sense. The others looked at him, and found the confirmation of the girl's words in the medic's expression, then turned to look back at the redhead, who had now a bottle of water, presumably extracted from her purse, and drank a bit before continuing.

"As for Ironhide" continued Kyra "After spending some time planet-hopping, eventually detected Ratchet's signal beacon and headed towards it. On the way, however, was abducted by an alien spacecraft inhabited by huge entities claiming they had created the Allspark and that it had been stolen from them, and now wanted it back. They tried to invade his mind to find out where the Allspark was, but Ironhide resists by focusing on a memory of his past, in which he led a training mission back on Cybertron. Thanks to that memory, he finds out those entities were actually illusions of the former inhabitants of the ship, which had been eliminated by a group of aquatic aliens, that wanted to find the Allspark to exploit its power, and immediately surrendered to Ironhide. He discovered that he had been found using a device that tracked Allspark energy, and took it from them. Once he resumed his journey, he couldn't help but wonder who were those who had originally inhabited the ship, and what their real connection to the Allspark was. Later, after meeting with Ratchet, the two began looking for Jazz" the redhead then stopped to observe their reactions, before deciding whether to continue or not.

Ironhide's surprise was even more evident than Ratchet's, because aside from knowing the exact facts, she also knew his thoughts as it was happening, thoughts none other than himself would know, because he had never even voiced them… Could their story actually be true? Did they come from a different… world?

"Now… do you want a quick summary or the full story?" Kyra asked in a hesitant tone, having not been able to figure the answer out from their expressions.

It took them a few seconds, but everyone quickly understood why was she hesitating… for now followed Jazz's part of the story…

* * *

And that's it for chapter 2! Writting all those summaries was tiring! Luckily the TF Wikia helped a bit with them! xD

Looks like they're starting to believe their story... and who wouldn't, when explained like that? Though there'll be even more solid proof in the next chapter! Let's see how this plays out, shall we? =D


	3. Chapter 3 · More Revelations

**THE ART OF MAKING DECISIONS**

**[ARC 1 · ORIGIN]**

**By Silverlight & Nightstorm**

**Disclaimer: **All recognizable Transformer characters, settings, etc. are property of their respective owners. We just borrow them for our plot (don't worry, we'll return them… eventually). Our OCs as well as the majority of the plot belong to us. No copyright infringement is intended in any way.

**Authoresses****'**** Notes:** This story was created from our full-of-randomness role-playing, so it has a bit of everything, humor, drama, action, dark stuff etc. even mature content, therefore its rating. The story takes place after the 2007 Transformers Movie, and even though we will not follow the plot of RoTF absolutely step by step, we will use some of it as a base, so there will be some spoilers, and the same goes for DotM.

We do appreciate comments and constructive criticism (especially about grammar corrections or so, since none of us is English), but if you're just going to rant about something you don't like, or some character that's OOC or some similar trash, you can keep it to yourselves, thank you. It's our story, not yours, if you don't like it, don't read it.

**Story Notes:** Written in 3rd person (there might be some short parts told from certain characters, though).

Any names (except main official characters and main OCs) were chosen randomly from name websites or invented, so any coincidence is not intended.

* * *

**Fonts Meaning:**

"Speaking" '_Thinking/Mind Speaking__' _ ::_Transmissions::_ "**Cybertronian**" _/Bond Speaking/ -Radio/Lyrics-_

* * *

**[THE ART OF MAKING DECISIONS - ARC 1 · ORIGIN]**

**Chapter 3 - More revelations**

"Now… do you want a quick summary or the full story?" Kyra asked in a hesitant tone, having not been able to figure the answer out from their expressions.

It took them a few seconds, but everyone quickly understood why was she hesitating… for now followed Jazz's part of the story… The moment they understood, they visibly saddened… the death of their friend was still too near… and it hurt. But they still needed to know what these human females knew… Ratchet, Ironhide and Bumblebee looked at Optimus, awaiting his decision. The leader looked back at them, and after hesitating a moment, finally spoke.

"Go on, please" he told the redhead "do not omit anything."

Kyra nodded, the sadness somewhat having spread to her, but continued "Jazz ended up on a planet he called 'The Information Highway', a constantly morphing world with the accumulated knowledge of countless alien cultures, condensed into some kind sensory precipitation. He loved both this world and the constant new experiences so much that he deliberately ignored Ratchet's signal beacon, deciding that he'd had enough of war and was to stay on this planet, where he was overwhelmed by all the data, the new ways of thinking and being. After some time, he decided to examine some strange mushroom-like towers that had appeared on the surface of the planet, but upon touching them he was covered in a swarm of small green light spheres. While before the planet gave him information, it now started to take… It replayed a memory from Jazz's past, where his companion Clocker saved him from almost having his spark ripped out by Bonecrusher, at the expense of his own life. When Jazz emerged from the memory, he found he was being absorbed by the planet's surface, and so much of his systems were focused on data storage that he had no power to resist. Everything about his processor was being stripped and invaded, and all he could do was to launch a signal buoy into orbit so others would know to stay away. Time passed, and in brief periods of lucidity, Jazz realized that the planet was alive and all the data had come from countless other victims…" she paused briefly "Eventually, Ratchet and Ironhide detected the signal from the buoy and arrived to the planet. Ratchet quickly noticed the planet was alive and predatory, and Ironhide began shooting at it to make it give Jazz back, rapidly achieving his objective. Once they had rescued Jazz and found out where Cybertron was, they returned home" Kyra stopped and looked at them all "I'm sorry… I went too far with the details" she apologized, feeling bad when she saw the expressions of deep grief showing in the Autobots' faceplates.

"No, you don't have to apologize" Optimus said "I asked you not to omit anything…"

"I should have refused and told you only the general facts… the only thing I did was revive the pain" Kyra muttered.

"You really would have refused?" Leah asked, thinking she was exaggerating.

"I hate to cause others pain when it comes to good people…" Kyra mumbled quietly in response.

Leah was silent for a moment, watching the Autobots "Should we leave for a while or something? You look like you need some… time to pull yourselves together" she suggested "After all, what's left is only the recent past, basically since you came to Earth… and you really look kind of down…"

"No" Ironhide said, his voice firm "We shouldn' wander in th' past when we've got other important things ta do" he said seriously, and the others nodded, slightly regaining their composure, although the girls knew it was just a front, they were obviously greatly affected.

"If you're sure…" Kyra sighed, getting a general assent "I'll make a brief introduction before explaining what is included in the film, which focuses on the events after your arrival to Earth" she said, and since no one objected, she continued "Bumblebee was the first to trace the Allspark to Earth, and here he learned to express himself through the radio. Though S7 tracked his descent and secured the area in Virginia, where he landed, his quick assumption of a local alternate mode as a disguise allowed him to escape. Bumblebee's search for the Allspark began in St. Louis, Missouri, where he used a remote link to a coffee shop computer to search for any signs of extra-terrestrial sightings. There, he discovered the legend of the Ice-Man, and the story of Captain Archibald Witwicky. His search took him to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Captain Witwicky had been committed. He visited the ruins of the long-abandoned Psychopathic Institute for the Long-Term Insane, Witwicky's final home. From there, Bumblebee headed into downtown, where he scanned the records of Captain Witwicky from an unnamed asylum. This action unfortunately put S7 onto his trail. The Baton Rouge clues led Bumblebee to Springfield, Missouri, in search of Witwicky's son Clarence. En route, he evaded the first of several attacks by S7. In Springfield, he found records of Clarence's descendants, and started out to track them down. The oldest son, Ben, had resided in Denver, Colorado, but the trail ended there. En route to his next stop in Tuscon, he was attacked again by S7, evading their helicopters by blinding them and rocketing off at high speed. Not long after, he was attacked by Barricade in the desert. Damaged, Bumblebee stopped by the roadside to rest and recover. Suddenly detecting a burst of Allspark energy, he continued onwards out of Colorado. In New Mexico, as he approached the source of the Allspark energy, he was attacked once again by Barricade. Other Decepticons, meanwhile, attacked the energy source and found it to be a S7 ruse. Bumblebee managed to escape Barricade again" she made a brief pause "Eventually, his search took him to Tranquility, Nevada, where he would soon find Sam Witwicky" then the redhead looked at Bumblebee, who looked completely astonished, and then turned to look at the rest.

"How's everything up until now?" Leah asked then, seeing the astounded look on everyone "I take it we haven't been too far off the mark anywhere?" Most of them were just looking at them absently, as if trying to tidy up their processors, overwhelmed by the much extended and even more accurate information. "I'll take it as a yes" she muttered, seeing she wouldn't be getting an answer. Everyone was silent, that is, until Ironhide spoke.

"And now comes that… 'movie' ya spoke of, right?" he asked, not very convinced.

"Precisely" Leah confirmed in a tone that expressed that it was her turn to take over "Although… it's difficult to put into words… it would be so much easier to just show it to you" she said with a sigh.

Kyra looked thoughtful too, until her gaze settled on her friend's shoulder bag, and seemed to have an idea "Hey" she said to get Leah's attention "You have your laptop with you, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Leah said a little confused, but immediately caught up "Won't do, my file's quality sucks, remember?"

"Yours maybe, but mine's doesn't" said the redhead, and began to look for something in her own bag "Here you are!" she muttered, and took out a small object, a toy looking like a small black panther with a tiny purple symbol on its back, and extended her arm to hand it to Leah, who laughed.

"You brought Ravage with you? Cool!" she said as she went to grab it.

"Ravage?" Ratchet exclaimed, alarming everyone. The Autobots were immediately on guard and Kyra shielded the small object quickly to avoid any damage.

"No, no! Calm down! It's just a toy!" Leah shouted, and they seemed to relax a bit "It's merchandising, just a USB Flash Drive, it's harmless! Kyra, show them" she said then.

The redhead was a bit hesitant, but uncovered the toy and showed it to them, after which she manipulated it until it became the aforementioned USB device, and back to its toy form "See? And look" she then added, pulling another toy out of her bag, only this time it was a white tiger with black markings and a tiny orange Autobot symbol on its back "This is Tigertron, and he's the Autobot version of Ravage" she explained.

They seemed to calm down, and now watched the two small toys curiously "I don't understand. Why would humans build something like that?" Ratchet asked.

"As I said, it's merchandising" Leah repeated as she took out her laptop from her bag and set it on a stable place, then turned it on "Many people are fans of the cartoons and movies, it's called fandom. And of course, fans have their favorite characters, others they don't like so much, and some despised ones as well, to whom they'd love to give a good kick in the ass… There are toys, posters, and thousands of other things the fans collect, even if just for the fun of it" the laptop made the usual welcoming tone, and Leah turned to Kyra "May I?" she asked, hand extended.

"Just a second, the head got stuck again" said the redhead, who was returning mini-Ravage to its USB form, and was now pushing the head with both her thumbs, until it fell into place with a soft click "There" she said, and handed it to Leah, who immediately plugged it into the port and began searching for the file.

She was about to click on a file labeled 'Transformers Movie I', when she stopped and looked at Kyra "Wait, is it in English?" she asked, receiving a 'Yeah, why?' look from her friend "Just wondering… knowing you, it could have been in Japanese" she joked, and finally clicked on the file.

While the file was loading, and Leah was positioning the laptop so they could see the screen better, Kyra turned to look at the Autobots "Can you can see it all right? It's a rather small screen…"

"It doesn't present a problem for us" Optimus replied.

"Ok…" Kyra said, sitting next to Leah near the laptop, trying not to block anyone's vision, for now all four Mechs were standing behind them, looking at the small screen.

The movie started and everyone watched in silence. The first thing that was heard was Prime's voice, Kyra glanced furtively to see the original just then, and suppressed a giggle upon seeing he did not hide his surprise at all, just like the rest, and she could even see the curiosity in their glowing optics. The film progressed; Blackout's attack to the base in Qatar, Sam's class and the not-so-funny joke his father played on him…

Both girls had to contain their laughter when Bee swung his door open and hit the other car with it, especially since they knew the little joke hidden in that scene*, but when he used that high-frequency sound to break all others' cars windows, Leah couldn't bit back a comment "You're such a naughty kid, Bee" she said with a chuckle, but using a somewhat loving tone. Bee just sort of shrugged and looked away, as if acting offended, but the soft rumbling noise he made spoiled the effect.

They continued watching the movie in silence. The speech at the Pentagon, Sam's parents and their garden, the afternoon on the lake, Miles' stupidity, Bee's little pranks, who had Leah giggling every time, Frenzy's intrusion on board the Air Force One and his rendezvous with Barricade, the moment Bee sends the beacon, along with Sam's 'adventures' with his bike and the phone, Scorponok's attack, the difficulties Lennox had trying to contact the Pentagon, which had the girls chuckling again, the scene at Glen's house, ending with him and Maggie being arrested by the FBI…

After that came the scene where Bee returns to Sam's house, and when Sam called him 'Satan's Camaro', Leah couldn't help but laugh. The chase followed, then Sam's pirouette with his mother's bike, and finally the encounter with Barricade. The following chase scene and subsequent battle in the junkyard were observed with interest and in complete silence, except for Kyra's burst of laughter at Frenzy's girlish scream when his head was kicked by Sam after Mikaela had beheaded him "Sorry, couldn't help it" the girl quickly apologized, trying to hold back another laugh.

The film went on. They saw Frenzy's head surviving and transforming into Mikaela's cell phone, as she picked him up along with her bag, then how Sam managed to get Mikaela to sit on top of him, and how her comment about Bee's appearance apparently offended him, because he dumped them and went to look for a newer vehicle, finding a last-generation Camaro, probably in road tests. The girls laughed at this.

"Show off…" Leah said jokingly while looking at Bee, who only made a low grumbling noise.

Then they saw the scene where everyone landed and acquired their alternative forms, but when Leah heard the little girl calling Ironhide 'tooth fairy', she couldn't held back a loud fit of laughter. Bumblebee was caught off guard at that, and his startled move caused the platform to tremble. Leah, fearing for the integrity of her laptop, grabbed it trying to hold it in place, involuntarily moving the USB, disconnecting it and causing the film to freeze.

"Oops" Leah said "Just a moment, I'll fix it" she apologized, reconnecting the device.

While she fixed it, Optimus turned to Ironhide "You never reported being seen, Ironhide" he said seriously, but with an almost unnoticeable hint of amusement in his voice. Bee was trying poorly to hide his laugh, and even Ratchet looked like he was trying not to show his own amusement.

"…Ah didn' think it was so important… 't was jus' a kid…" Ironhide answered, looking a little embarrassed, sending an annoyed glare to the other two. Then he noticed the redhead girl looking at him with a light frown "'n' what're ya lookin' at?" he said with a frown of his own.

"I just noticed…" she said, ignoring his rude tone "Your voices… they're different."

"What?" Leah said, turning.

"They don't sound like the ones in the movie at all… well, except for Optimus" she said.

"Hey… now that you mention it…" the other replied, thoughtful.

Then both looked at each other, apparently coming to the same conclusion, and smiled knowingly, mouthing 'G1' at the same time, which turned their smiles into amused smirks.

"What're ya smilin' about?" Ironhide asked, sounding suspicious.

"Oh, nothing" Kyra said, still smiling a bit "It's just funny you didn't realize the voice differences before we did" she added as an excuse, apparently convincing the questioning mech.

"All right, everything's ready again" Leah cut in, and hit the Play button, and everyone paid attention to the screen again as the film resumed.

The following scenes at Sam's house and backyard triggered even more amused giggles and chuckles from both girls, while the mechs around them seemed somewhat embarrassed. The arrival of S7's men was received with frowns and angry looks, especially from Leah, who also kept muttering against Simmons and his stupidity, which made clear her dislike for the man, and even more than once she seemed to want to have him there to punch him, something that surprised the few who were paying enough attention to her. She only stopped so she could laugh at the man when Bee 'lubricated' on him, and the girl happily congratulated the amused mech.

During the helicopter's scene, the girls noticed how Bumblebee turned his gaze away and looked down. When they turned to look at the scene again, however, they felt something unusual…Leah felt a strong discomfort in general, and Kyra felt the same discomfort, but mixed with anger, and her hands balled into fists unconsciously… what was going on? The film went on, but those feelings were still there… pulsing, even intensifying…

Kyra began to feel frustrated for not being able to identify what was happening… It was only a movie… why was she overreacting like this… ? But then, during the scene that showed what they did with Bumblebee, everything suddenly made sense, all the pieces falling into place; it was not just a movie… not anymore. It was real, it had happened, it was not just a movie… She looked at Leah next to her, and saw in the brunette's eyes that she had realized the same… she saw that those scenes were no longer just sad… they were almost macabre… and inhumanly cruel.

Nevertheless, the film went on, and although they felt somewhat relieved when Sam managed to free Bee, those uncomfortable feelings did not disappear completely. After that followed the battle at Mission City, they saw as Ironhide alerted the rest about Starscream's presence, and the girls tensed again… Now they saw the battle through different eyes; now they were aware of the real extent of all that was happening. Kyra was frowning, visibly tense, and Leah eventually winced slightly, and even let out a tiny whimper when Bee lost his legs…

But the worst was yet to come; the scene where Megatron appeared and Jazz confronted him… Right at the moment he was provoking Megatron, shooting at him while being held by one leg, Leah whimpered again, this time a little louder, and buried her face in her hands before the imminent next scene. Kyra didn't hide her face, but anticipated what was going to happen as well, and judging from her expression it looked as if she felt the pain herself. Her fists unconsciously closed tight, not realizing or not caring about her nails digging into her palms.

At the sound of snapping metal, the result of Megatron tearing Jazz in half, Leah brought her knees to her chest and buried her face in her arms, faint sounds indicating she had started to cry. Kyra just sat there on her legs, motionless. The film went on, the battle scenes shorter than they would have been in real life, and within minutes Sam had used the Allspark to extinguish Megatron's spark, and shortly after the movie was over, leaving the room in complete silence once the video file stopped playing.

Leah was still curled up next to the redhead, silent except for the muffled sobs and sniffles coming from her small form, and even though they were soft, the Autobots could easily pick them up with their audio receptors. Kyra, meanwhile, just stared ahead at nothing in particular, her eyes shimmering with tears that refused to leave them. She blinked several times, trying to force the tears back, when Ratchet came into her view, looking at her with a hint of worry both in his expression and his voice.

"Are you crying?" he asked the redhead, the only one whose face was visible. Kyra closed her eyes and shook her head no, muttering something that sounded like 'I'm fine', and avoiding looking directly at anyone when she reopened them, tears finally subsiding.

At the same time, Bumblebee was trying to see Leah's face, and realizing he couldn't unless she moved, he poked her gently with one finger, which only earned him a loud sniff from the brunette, after which she shifted away from him, still curled up. Bee looked at Kyra and made a pitiful noise, as if asking what was wrong with her.

Fortunately, Kyra took the hint "It's because of the movie."

"But you have seen it before, right? Or is this the normal reaction?" Ratchet asked, clearly lost.

"It's not the same" Kyra explained "This time we've seen the film from another perspective… it's no longer what it was supposed to be; a fictional story that someone invented for other people's entertainment, but now… to know that everything was real, that it has really happened… the wounded… the… dead… everything…" she said, her voice strained, trying to hold back her urge to cry just like her friend was "… everything…" she whispered to herself.

The Autobots seemed to understand, looking at them sympathetically after sharing a look between them.

"I think you need to get some air…" Ratchet said at last.

Kyra nodded but then looked around, remembering they were on a platform with nothing that could be used to get down. Apparently she was not the only one to notice, because Optimus brought a hand up to the platform, so the redhead stood up, helping Leah up as well, her sobs more audible as both carefully climbed onto his hand. Optimus felt a few tiny drops fall on his hand as he lowered it, bringing the girls to ground level, proof that the brunette was really crying… After a soft 'Thanks' from the redhead once were back on the floor, both headed to the door leading into the main hangar at a slow pace. Once they were out, the Autobots started talking about what happened, trying to come to a decision.

* * *

Aaand that's chapter 3 done! =)

The joke referred above is… well, anyone who has seen Bumblebee's alt form in the G1 Series should recognize the little car on the receiving end of that bump. Want more info? Look it up on Wikipedia! =P


End file.
